Stefanski out with Sixers

Bob Cooney

General manager Ed Stefanski has been relieved of his duties, the new Sixers owners announced in their introductory press conference.

Rod Thorn will remain as team president and will be the “captain of the ship,” according to majority owner Josh Harris.

“We were lucky enough when we bought the team to have two fantastic people doing one job,” Harris said. “We are going to stay with Rod. There are no current plans to replace Ed.”

Speculation had been that Jason Levien, a former NBA player agent and executive with the Sacramento Kings, would be involved in player personnel. Levien is one of the minority owners.

Asked about ownership’s involvement in player personnel, Harris said, “You can be assured that we are interested owners. We will be very focused, with lots of debate about what we do with players. At the end of the day, Rod is the captain of that ship. He will run that part of our organization. We will speak with you through one voice, Rod and Doug [Collins] voice when it comes to players.”

Stefanski has been a frontrunner for the general manager job with the Toronto Raptors. A source said late last week that those talks were moving forward, although reports have said that those talks have hit a snag.

Stefanski was hired as the Sixers president and general manager in 2007 after having served as the GM of the New Jersey Nets. His role was reduced to general manager when Thorn was hired before last season.